Half sole



Nov. 17, 1925. `1,562,040

' C. H'. OAKLEY HALF SOLE Filed May 21, 1921 INVENTOR ATTO EYS Patented Nv. 17, 1925.

f UNITED sTATEs 1,562,040 APATENT OFFICE.

CLIFFORD H. OAKLEY, F TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

HALF SOLE.

application med may 21, 1921. serial No. 471,473.

T o a-ZZ whom t may concern.

Be it known that I, CLIFFORD H.-OAKLEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the c'ityof Trenton, county of Mercer,

1 and State of New Jersey, have invented auf Improvement in' Half Soles, ofwhich the following is a specification'.

' This inventionvrelates to'impro-vements in i the construction of what are commonly known as tap soles or half soles of rubberor suitable composition. An object of the invention is to provide a construction for tap soles whereby the rear edgefwhioh is commonly nailed to the shank of the shoe may be securely held to the sho'e and held in such a manne-r that a permanently tight joint between the rear edge of the tap sole and the shank of the shoe will be formed.

In the use of tap soles or half soles of rubber or other similare-r suitable composition, not a little diiliculty has been experi enced in properly securing the rea-r edge of the tap sole tothe shank of the shoe. It

is oftentimes as advantageous to usea rubber or composition half 'sole instead of a leather half sole, but their use is restricted at least in part by the difficulty just mentioned.

The accompanying drawings show a preferred embodiment of the present invention for purposes of illustration, and therein,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a tap sole,

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the 'sole attached to a shoe,

Figure 3 is a top plan View of the rear` edge of the tap sole,

Figure 4 is a'bottom planview, and Figure 5 is" a somewhat diagrammatic .ligure which will be referred to in s eaking of a method of manufacture of t is tap sole.

Ffgure 6 is a section on the line 6 6 of Figure 5.

The drawings show a tap sole or half sole 1 which may be made of any suitable material such as rubber, rubber composition o1- other pressed or vulcanized compositions which are commonly used for thispurpose. 'lhc larger part of the sole is molded fiat, but the rear edge 2 is molded with a decided upward curve as clearly shown in Figure 1.

ln order to form a neat appearing t with the shank of the shoe the rubber is thinned toward the rear edge of the sole.

Preferably, along the upper side of the Figure 2 will serve to illustrate the man-V ner in which the tap sole is applied to the shoe. Ordinarily and preferably, the sole is sewed around the marginal edges but lob- On the under viously cannot be sewed across the rear edge. f

It will be observed that when the tap sole is first applied to the shoe and before it is nailed, the rear edge portion thereof will contact, with the shank along the extreme rear edge of the tap and also along a line which follows the forward edge of the fabric reinforcement more or less exactly. There 1s thus formed an 'arch-of reinforced composition which is relatively thick at ythe for- 'I ward line of contact and relatively thin at the rear line of contact with the shoe. The under side of this arch isrendered practically non-extensible by. the fabricy strip 3, consequently as the arch is flattened by driving the nails 5 5 therethrough, the force tending to stretch the non-extensible reinforced surface is translated intova force tending to compress the rubber structure adjacent to and intimately attached to it.

Because of the resiliency of the material the.

tap tends to resume its original molded form and this tendency will act continually to hold the extreme rear ed e of the tap firmly against the shank of te shoe,'while the fabric 3 through which the nails have been passed, will reventV the nails from tearing out of the ru ber or other composition.

Tap soles embodying the invention may Ibe manufactured in the usual manner, that is, by molding them in individual mold cavi- `ties but I prefer to manufacture these tap soles as long strips, the edges of which are upturned and if desired, reinforced with fabric as shown in Figures 5 and 6. Then the Shoemaker may cutfrom this strip such pieces of such size as he may need somewhat as indicated vin Figure 5.

Theinvention maybe variously modified and embodied Within the scope of the sub-v fabric embedded therein on the inner face joined claim. `of the curved portion substantially as .de-

I claim as my invention I scribed. f 10 As an article of manufacture, ta. vsole In testimony whereof, I have signed my 5 material comprising a strip of molde comname to this specification this 17th day of position, each longitudinal edge being May, 1921. l curved and bevelled vand having a strip of CLIFFORD I-I.` OAKLEY. 

